It’s been another couple of busy weeks. We’ve packed quite a lot in with a trip to Manchester, visits to the aquarium and farm, swimming and a show.

We went to see In the Night Garden Live at Manchester. Clara was amazed from the very start, she barely took her eyes off the stage and was dancing and singing along. Izzy was one of the oldest children there, as most were pre-school age, but she loved it too. The show was a mix of puppets and life sized characters, and it followed the same format as the television show, making it very familiar for the children. Afterwards we waited to meet Upsy Daisy, although Clara wasn’t too keen on meeting her in person!

We returned home from Manchester minus a child. Izzy stayed with her grandparents for a few days and enjoyed a trip to Cadbury’s World. She had a nice time and was well and truly spoilt but she was pleased to come home. I think she missed Clara most! It was nice for her to spend time with her grandparents but it did feel quite strange without her in the house!

Clara, however, probably enjoyed the peace and quiet. On the Thursday we went to pick Izzy up and there was a lot of hugging and tales of how late she stayed up and how many ice creams she had (there are no secrets!). There wasn’t much chance for her to relax though as the next day we went swimming. Her big cousin came with us too and they swam off playing mermaids while Clara doggy – paddled her way round the pool playing with her little friends.

Saturday called for some fresh air so we headed up to a farm park. It succeeded in tiring the girls out as both fell asleep in the car on the way home! Izzy fed a goat and Clara was really brave and stroked a pony – a big step for a toddler who is scared of dogs and most other animals.

On Sunday the Hubby was off playing cricket and eldest was giving it some attitude. She’s obsessed with Annie at the moment to the point where she’s started talking in an American accent and pretending she’s an orphan. The singing was cute to begin with. I learned to make it work to my advantage by issuing both girls with dusters and having them clean the skirting boards while singing it’s a hard knock life. But after a few hours of the constant fake accent and millions of questions about orphanages (plus the announcement that she wants to live in an orphanage) tensions were running high. So we packed up a picnic and headed to the local aquarium. Which aleviated matters for a couple of hours until I made the mistake of going to Asda and it descended into madness once again.

However, Clara managed to ensure we ended the day on a high by doing a wee in her potty for the first time. It was super cute – mid nappy change she just took herself off to the bathroom, sat on her potty then announced “I did it”. Completely unexpected as while we have had a potty in the bathroom for a while and mention it now and again, we haven’t started trying to potty train.

We made a big fuss of her and gave her a little present as a reward – a Doc Mcstuffins watch that plays music. She’s so proud of herself and really pleased with her watch. Izzy even made her a certificate for being an awesome little sister. It’s amazing the things you get so proud of when you are a parent – bodily fluids being one of them!